Calcutta high court orders second autopsy in student leader murder case | Latest News India - Hindustan Times
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Calcutta high court orders second autopsy in student leader murder case

By, Kolkata
Feb 25, 2022 02:29 AM IST

Directing the deceased’s family to cooperate with the probe, the court ordered them to hand over Anis Khan’s mobile phone to the SIT for the purpose of investigation.

The Calcutta high court on Thursday ordered a second post mortem of student leader Anis Khan under the supervision of a district judge and the submission of the progress report of the Special Investigation Team on his death after 15 days.

The Calcutta high court on Thursday also ordered the submission of the progress report of the Special Investigation Team on Anis Khan death after 15 days. (Archive)
The Calcutta high court on Thursday also ordered the submission of the progress report of the Special Investigation Team on Anis Khan death after 15 days. (Archive)

Justice Rajasekhar Mantha, who had ordered that the issue be taken up as a suo motu petition of the court, also dismissed noted lawyer and CPI(M) Rajya Sabha member Bikash Ranjan Bhattacharya’s request for a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the case.

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Directing the deceased’s family to cooperate with the probe, the court ordered them to hand over Khan’s mobile phone to the SIT for the purpose of investigation. The phone must be sent to the Central Forensic Science Laboratory in Hyderabad for data recovery, it ruled.

A second postmortem examination will be conducted in the presence of the district judge of Howrah or his representative. The SIT must complete the probe expeditiously and file a report after 15 days. The deceased’s family should also be given an opportunity to identify the suspects, it added.

Khan was allegedly killed at his residence at Amta, in Howrah district, in the early hours of February 19. His father, Salem, alleged that four men had visited his house around 12.30 am on the night of the incident and murdered his son by throwing him off the roof of the two-storey building.

The deceased’s family also claimed that one of the accused was wearing a police uniform and carrying a rifle while the other three were wearing uniforms used by civic police volunteers.

Debabrata Chakraborty, the officer-in-charge of Amta police station, was sent on leave for indefinite period on Thursday after he was questioned twice by the SIT. Another officer would be asked to take charge, district police officers said.

On Monday, chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced the formation of the SIT under the supervision of director general of police Manoj Malviya. Two days later, home guard Kashinath Bera and civic police volunteer Pritam Bhattacharya, who were posted at Amta police station, were arrested and remanded in judicial custody by a local court on Thursday.

Salem had earlier refused to allow a second postmortem examination or submit his son’s phone, saying he had no faith in local police. The first post mortem report was not made public since the matter became sub judice. He has alleged the role of senior police officers and a few Trinamool Congress (TMC) panchayat leaders in the district, in the matter.

The deceased’s father has been demanding the arrest of senior police officers and a few Trinamool Congress (TMC) panchayat leaders in Howrah district. “I have been making these demands for a long time. The arrested men have said they are being made scapegoats,” he said.

“We demanded an impartial probe because we strongly feel that Anish was murdered. The state government told the court that the probe will be unbiased. We have demanded copies of the postmortem and forensic examination reports,” Bhattacharya said.

Bera and Bhattacharya denied having any direct links with the case. “We were working under orders from senior officers. Now they are making us scapegoats. We don’t know how Anish Khan died,” Bera said while he was being taken to the court.

The state police had earlier said that Anish was an accused in two criminal cases, of which, one was filed under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Meanwhile, sporadic protests were witnessed across Amta while a few local residents broke police barricades and attempted to storm the Amta police station on Thursday. No case was however filed.

In Kolkata, demonstrations were held by students of Aliah University and members of the youth and student fronts of the CPI(M).

On the high court’s latest order, Sabir Khan, Anish’s elder brother, said: “We have to follow the orders of the high court but we will move the Supreme Court if we feel that a CBI probe is necessary.”

Sabir had earlier said that he had received a threat call from an unidentified person on Tuesday night for demanding a CBI probe in the case.

TMC state general secretary Kunal Ghosh refused to comment on the matter. “Our party has nothing to say because the government is conducting the investigation. It will follow the court order,” he said.

BJP leader and leader of opposition in Bengal assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, alleged the role of senior police officers in the case. “A number of senior officers and TMC leaders are involved. Only a CBI probe can unearth the truth,” Adhikari said.

On Wednesday, Banerjee had dismissed the demand for a CBI probe, saying the central agency had failed to make any breakthrough in numerous important cases, including the theft of Rabindranath Tagore’s Nobel Prize medallion from the museum at Santiniketan in Birbhum district in 2004.

“Where is the Nobel medallion? Could the CBI arrest anyone for the killing of 14 people at Nandigram in 2007. There are so many instances,” she said.

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